


Reforging the Shards of the Hobbit

by Araeph



Series: No Longer Bilbo's Story [4]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Essays, F/M, Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-26
Updated: 2016-02-26
Packaged: 2018-05-23 07:18:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6109255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Araeph/pseuds/Araeph
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An examination of possible fixes for the <i>Hobbit</i> movies to rid them of their Sues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reforging the Shards of the Hobbit

**Author's Note:**

> We will not be discussing Alfrid here, as I have already stated my opinion on where his character should have ended. If he had perished when the Master had shoved him overboard, his screentime would be in acceptable proportion to his role and importance in the movie.

 

 

> _As a character, Tauriel is not irredeemable, and with some tweaking, she could be a likeable addition to the franchise. The problem is that the overall story without her is tighter woven, flows smoother, centers more on its protagonist, and is free of a rather large and malignant_[ _Romantic Plot Tumor_](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RomanticPlotTumor) _._  

Could all this spotlight stealing have been avoided? Could the _Hobbit_ trilogy have worked with a different Tauriel, a different Legolas, and next to no Alfrid? To those who look for a remedy to the Mary Sue disease that wracks the _Hobbit_ , there are two avenues open to us: omitting Legolas’ and Tauriel’s plotlines (at least a large potion), or changing them to better suit the movies as they are. Let's examine both options and see which one is best.

 

* * *

 

The Movies with Reworked Tauriel and Legolas Plotlines

There are a few ways to reinvigorate the roles of Tauriel and Legolas so that they contribute more to the world-building and character development of the Company of Thorin, which would keep the _Hobbit_ trilogy from meandering off course as much as it did originally. Here are just a few:

  1. **Kíli and Legolas friendship.** As stated before, if there is to be a bond developed between an Elf and a Dwarf, Legolas and Tauriel really should have switched roles in terms of Kíli; the set-up for it was all right there in the script. Rather than a Kíli/Tauriel romance born of… mutual admiration of shiny things?... we should have had Kíli and Legolas bond over their love of archery. Then Legolas, who can get away with a little rebellion as the king’s son, _and_ who has a noble motive to do so after Thorin’s axe throw saved his life during the orc raid, would disobey his father and go after them. Tauriel would not _want_ to desert her post, but protecting the crown prince would ultimately come out as priority number one. She would not go alone; she would take at least a squadron of loyal Elven warriors with her, appoint a replacement captain of the guard, and inform the king of her decision, if not directly, at least by messenger. That way she wouldn’t leave a gaping hole in the command structure in a kingdom that has just suffered an orc raid and whose paths are being cluttered by giant spiders. (An Elven squadron facing down the orcs at Laketown would also free up Kíli, Fíli, Oin, and Bofur to go with the Company, skipping the Kíli-is-sick-and-Tauriel-glows-for-him subplot, which is costlier in terms of time and energy than a straight-up action scene would be. It would distract less from the tension of the Company facing Smaug, shift the focus back to Bilbo—the protagonist, remember him?—and a group of Elves alone defending Bard’s family against orcs who are only there because of the Dwarves would give Bard even more of a reason to side with Thranduil against Thorin’s folk after the Dragon is defeated.)


  1. **Older Tauriel, younger Legolas.** Tauriel, at 600, is the youngest Elf we’ve ever seen on-screen, by far. Her youth is designed to make her likeable to the audience, but again, it goes against her status as respected captain of the guard. Would you put a 20-year-old on the security team to protect the President? How about as head of that security team? No matter how awesome your fighting skills are, you need experience in order to be able to lead, and by the standard of a people who are _immortal_ , that is something Tauriel does not have. Again, Legolas and Tauriel should have switched roles here, with the younger Legolas being willing to take chances and the older, more experienced Tauriel arguing to go back home, but still sticking with the prince out of loyalty. Remember, Elves are ageless; even if you wanted a Legolas/Tauriel romance, there’s no reason why an Elf lady can’t be a good thousand years older than her partner. (Just ask Aragorn.) Having Tauriel be an older friend of Legolas, sharing in many of his father’s views but being more open to change, would have given her some much-needed character flaws, while Legolas, who would be more sympathetic in a burgeoning friendship with Kíli, could then be shown as a little more rash and impulsive than he was in LOTR. Perhaps he could look the other way while Bilbo sneaks the Dwarves out in the barrels, or argue in favor of Bilbo’s Arkenstone plan at the council before the walls of Erebor. After all, Legolas is younger here, and I don’t just mean that in years. It’s not unthinkable that, among ageless beings, it is their _experiences_ that cause them to mature as much as their longevity—and the Battle of Fives Armies could certainly be a sobering experience for an emotionally youthful Legolas.


  1. **Ambitious Tauriel; naïve Legolas.** If you wanted to keep Tauriel young and Legolas more mature, then have it emphasized that she wanted to be captain of the guard more than anything, and the amount of sacrifice she put in to attain her position made her grow from the playful young Elf that Legolas remembers to an almost fanatical echo of his father, with whom Legolas finds himself increasingly at odds. It almost seems that their friendship is at an end—until Tauriel asks the king for permission to go and protect Legolas on his foolish errand. When the king asks why she is willing to risk her job for his son, she can reply that protecting the prince _is_ her job, and there is no one better to perform it.



 

In these scenarios, how would we reconcile Legolas’ dwarrowphobia in LOTR with a possible friendship with Kíli? Easily enough, considering how the Battle of Five Armies ends. Imagine Legolas sticking his neck out for racial tolerance, arguing with his father that maybe all Dwarves aren’t so bad, even saying that Elves can be blinded by their long memories of past wrongdoing. The cunning Thranduil consequently sends Legolas as the ambassador to talk with the Dwarves. If Legolas succeeds, more gold for Thranduil; if he fails, then what Thranduil is trying to teach his son might finally hit home. So Legolas dutifully approaches the Mountain, only to be faced with a gold-sick Company and what he thinks is confirmation of every stereotype he ever heard about Dwarves. Compounding that eye-opener, he would then lose Kíli, the only Dwarf he formed a bond with, during the Battle of Five Armies. That would be enough to disillusion just about anyone, wouldn’t you say? Meanwhile, Tauriel, who would not want to leave the king’s side once he approached Erebor, would be there to see the greed behind Thranduil’s machinations; thus, she would have her illusions stripped away as well.

The two Elves would leave the Battle of Five Armies, both having gotten more than they bargained for. But…perhaps Legolas would not forget entirely. Perhaps he would take Kíli’s talisman home to his mother. Perhaps there would be just a small look back of understanding and nostalgia, leaving the door open for Legolas to form a friendship with a certain other Dwarf we all know further down the line. And perhaps Tauriel, who started out hating the Dwarves almost as much as Thranduil, would ironically be the one to encourage Legolas not to become bitter or shut the door on friendship with another race. After all, she saw Fíli and Kíli fall to protect Thorin in battle—a sight she will never forget. In the end, though Legolas’ bond with Kíli is doomed, his bond with Tauriel has been saved and strengthened, and he and his father come to a mutual understanding. As for Tauriel, she returns to defend the Greenwood against all encroachers; and if it is not the Elven King, but the Dwarves of Erebor whose example she seeks to follow, it is nobody’s business but her own.

 

* * *

 

The Movies Without Tauriel and Legolas

  
Frankly, the simplest and best solution is to omit any mention of Tauriel and all but a few mentions of Legolas. Concerning the latter, it would be best if Legolas were there chiefly to provide a contrast to Thranduil’s character, especially with regards to the intolerance of Dwarves and Thranduil’s certainty of outlasting the evil that Sauron brings into the world.

With respect to Tauriel, the only void her character would create is one of representation, with Galadriel and Lobelia Sackville-Baggins becoming the sole female characters with speaking parts. (I do not subscribe to the idea that romance is a necessary component to the _Hobbit_ movies; even if I did, the fact that fans saw more romance between Bilbo and Thorin than between Kíli and Tauriel would suggest that the latter romance was neither necessary nor particularly fulfilling.) Here are some ways to replace Tauriel’s screentime with better suited female characters:

  1. **Female Dwarves in Erebor.** Have more of the Dwarven craftsmen be female; have a female Dwarf discover the Arkenstone.


  1. **Dis.** Show Dis and Frerin along with Thorin, Thrain, and Thror. Show her battling to try and save her brother’s life during Azanulbizar. Show Dis trying to convince Thorin not to go on his quest, and then her giving Fili that token. Instead of Thorin’s meeting with Gandalf in DOS (which I think serves to confuse the plot rather than illuminate it), show Dis as ruler of the Blue Mountains inviting Dain of the Iron hills to speak with her, then convincing him to head out before winter. It would have the added advantage of making Dain’s army seem less like a deus ex machina.


  1. **Belladonna Took.** Instead of shoehorning Frodo into the _Hobbit_ , show us Belladonna Took. We have only Gandalf’s word that Bilbo used to be adventurous; have Belladonna ignite some spark in Bilbo that Gandalf would remember in years to come. When the Company arrives in Rivendell, replace the food gags with Elrond mentioning Bilbo’s mother—it could be the first time the Dwarves are surprised by something about Bilbo.


  1. **Galadriel.** Have Galadriel be more than an exposition fairy in the first two movies. Cut Radagast’s screentime (if he even needs to have any) and have Galadriel spearhead operations to confront the Necromancer.


  1. **Queen of Mirkwood.** Instead of succumbing to the Dead Mother trope with a side dish of Celebrían, show the feast of starlight; have her be in on the conversations about what to do concerning the prisoners. If we must have an echo of Merry’s “But you’re part of this world!” moment, have the Queen of Mirkwood give it. It would make much more sense coming from an older, wiser leader of a people than it would a youthful and impulsive Elf.


  1. **Women of Laketown.** Give Bard’s daughters more to do than just scream and be rescued; they’re already in the movie, so they might as well be useful. Make one of the corrupt dockmasters a woman; make Percy the fisherman a woman. Emphasize that widows and mothers have had to go to work out of necessity to feed their families in Laketown.


  1. **Half of the Dwarves in the Company.** It has been suggested before that one-half of each sibling pair in the Company be female. There is a huge opportunity to subvert gender conventions with female Dwarves who wear beards, make war, and have deep voices, yet are not any less women for it. Since in the book, few of the Dwarves beyond Thorin ever receive the writer’s attention, we would destroy no one’s beloved character by doing this, and while there would be some complaints from purists, I imagine there would be far fewer than those against the Tauriel character, who shouldn’t exist to begin with.



However, if as a writer you won’t or can’t do any of the above, you _must_ err on the side of the quality of the story. A character like Tauriel is not the answer to a lack of female presence. You absolutely cannot sacrifice narrative integrity to add in a character made solely to appeal to [insert underrepresented demographic here]. By doing so, you feed into the very mindset that keeps female characters from prominent roles in the first place. There is a certain sentiment in popular culture that female characters are, not a natural part of an epic narrative, but something you’re obligated to stick into adventure stories for the sake of romance, or when you’re afraid women will complain about a lack of representation. This is exactly how the character of Tauriel feels in a narrative that should include her naturally.

The worst part of all is that, from the sheer number of fanfiction stories where Bilbo is written as female, we find that **female writers see themselves as Bilbo far more than they see themselves as Tauriel.** So if Tauriel forces Bilbo’s narrative into the background to make room for her own…is that _really_ a sign of valuing female strength? It is far better to value the strength and work of women in general in the narrative than it is to pin the focus of "girl power" on _one_  character who may not even be the character most women identify with. Create a good story first, and let the rest follow as it will.


End file.
